Dragons
By Heron and Owl
Singular: Dragon Plural: Dragons Group: Wing of Dragons Communication - Mindspeech Size Ranges – (Pureblood/Mottle) Measurement in Meters Gold (45m/45m) Red (*/60m) Silver (*/40m) Bronze (40-45m/40-45m + a tiny bit) Brown (35m/35m) Blue (25m/35m+) Green (20m/30m) Copper (*/22m) Brass (*/20m) Black (*/20m) White (12-15m/20m) Colorations – See Ranks Naming Convention – Know their own name at hatching; all end in -th |
General Information
The original settlers of Pern got their first colony built on some good news and some bad news. The good news was that they had discovered a playful, friendly indigenous life form in the Firelizards, little smooth-skinned dragon-shaped reptiles that were easy to Impress and incredibly companionable. The bad news was Thread, a hostile organism that was part fungal and all hungry, capable of devouring and destroying any organic material on contact. Thread rained voracious destruction down from the skies, and the settlers needed a sustainable line of defense. Using some of the last of their technology, the Pern settlers genetically modified Firelizards to make them bigger, stronger, and smarter. Thus came the original Dragons. Just as smooth-skinned as the Firelizards, with the same secondary stomach used for storing a material called Firestone, which allowed them to belch flame at falling Thread. Dragons were as capable of telepathic bonding and telekinetic translocation as their Firelizard ancestors, but they had been improved upon by their scientist creators to be capable of coherent mindspeech. The Pernese dragonriders that made their accidental arrival to Teragaia soon learned that theirs were not the only Dragons in the universe, however. Teragaia harbored its own species of wild dragons, independent creatures who considered humans to be snack food, by and large. These wild dragons were capable of breathing fire, or indeed many things other than fire, naturally, without first needing to consume fuel like the Pernese Dragons. They were also capable of terrifying feats of magic, and this included the ability to polymorph, or transform, into any shape they pleased. Human, sometimes, walking amongst the dragonriders seen but unseen. More dauntingly, they were also capable of mimicking Pernese Dragons and chasing the Gold Dragons that had made the journey to Teragaia (or, perhaps, mimicking Pernese Golds and initiating mating flights with the natural Pernese males). Within several dragon generations, this interbreeding became apparent, as some of the Dragons that hatched sported blends of colors, sometimes even horns or crests or scales that their Pernese ancestors had never had, as well as deadly breath that required no Firestone. Because of their patchwork coloration, and indeed unevenly distributed ratios of smooth skin to hard scales, these new Dragons became known as Pernese Mottles, because for whatever else they had in them, they were Pernese at heart. They had no magic beyond their breath weapons and the pseudo-magical ability to teleport, or between, the same as the Pernese purebloods that had spawned them, and they bonded readily to humanoid Candidates who Impressed them. Regardless of whether they are pure-blooded Pernese or Mottles, all Dragons (that are not simply wild dragons) have whirling faceted eyes that change color based on mood. Cooler colors tend to indicate positive moods, with green representing contentment, blue excitement or interest and purple fretfulness or concern. Warmer colors correlate to harsher emotions; yellow indicates worry or stress, red anger and orange uncertainty, agitation or fear. A sick or severely distressed dragon’s eyes and even hide will take on splotchy tones of gray, also. Beyond breath and color, little was inherited by the Mottles of their wild forbearers, except, perhaps, the occasional temperament. Mottles with metallic bloodlines (related most strongly to gold, silver, bronze, copper, or brass wild dragons) tend to be kinder than Mottles who take after the chromatic (red, blue, green, black, or white) wild dragons, although with as mixed as bloodlines have gotten in recent years, this is more guideline than rule. Mottles with GOLD, BRASS, or RED ancestry may breathe fire. Mottles with SILVER or WHITE ancestry may breathe frost. Mottles with BRONZE or BLUE ancestry may breathe lightning. Mottles with COPPER or BLACK ancestry may breathe acid. Mottles with GREEN ancestry may breathe clouds of corrosive chlorine gas. Pictures of wild dragons can be found here. Mating Information On the original Pern, a female dragon ready to mate would sun herself until she glowed radiant with the heat, and then would hunt game and devour it -- or blood it, if cautioned by a careful bond, as devouring the beast would make her slow and easily caught. On Teragaia, however, such a phenomenon has also been seen happening to male dragons. Attracted by the sun-hot glow of arousal and the telepathic aura of lust, other dragons will leap into flight to chase the initiator regardless of physical sex, and compete against each other and against the initiator in the air. The chase flight is littered with dangerous maneuvers and sometimes injuries, until finally one of the suitors catches up to the initiator. The initiator and the victorious suitor will then lock talons and spiral down to the ground. Fertile females who have been caught by male suitors will then proceed to lay eggs in whatever terrain they find most appropriate, bearing in mind some females make better mothers than others. Bonding Information Baby Dragons hatch hungry. The only thing that can distract them from finding food to fill their ravenous little bellies is finding the One. They search through the Candidates on the hatching grounds until they find the soul who completes them. When they find the correct person, they will introduce themselves by the names that they already know, which always end in -th. One person may bond more than one Dragon, but never more than one from the same clutch. Pure Pernese Dragons who cannot find the right Candidate when they hatch will often Between, dying for lack of a bond. Pernese Mottles show a little more sturdiness and independence, unhappy if they are unable to bond, but capable of surviving, and, sometimes, finding their bonds as adults. For Mottles, such an occurrence is an illustration of the phrase, “Better late than never.” They will often, in such a situation, demand to know, “What took you so long to find me?” Ranks Gold, Gold Mottle ********** Rarest and perhaps grandest of Dragon-kind, pure-blooded Golds are the undisputed queens of their species, huge and graceful. Their soft, velvety hide is bright and metallic in hue, varying in shades from bright yellow to a darker, almost brassy color. Only female, Golds can stretch nearly forty five meters from nose to tail-tip and can lay vast clutches of more than fifty eggs. While usually good-natured, Pernese Golds can also tend towards being imperious or arrogant. They are the queens, after all, They are infinitely aware of their status and they expect their words to carry weight with everyone. Just as rare, grand, and large are the Gold Mottles, Golds whose bloodlines also contain the blood of wild dragons. They lack their wild ancestors’ magic, but they have, instead, patches of scales interrupting the smoothness of their hides, as well as horns, ridges, frills, and stripes or splotches of color breaking the outline of the metallic gold that dominates their entire bodies. Unlike pure-blooded Golds, Gold Mottles can be either male or female, just like their wild predecessors. Gold Mottles can be just as pushy and imperious as true Golds, though their personalities tend to vary more depending on the individual influences of wild heritage each Gold Mottle carries. Females can lay larger clutches than their wild counterparts can, but nowhere near the clutch size of true Golds, topping out at roughly twenty eggs. Red Mottle ********* Nearly as rare as Golds and Gold Mottles, Red Mottles are the result of wild red dragons entering the Pernese bloodline, which produced, after a few generations, these hulking giants of dragon-kind. Dwarfing the Golds at nearly sixty meters nose to tail, Red Mottles are bulky walls of muscle and grit. They aren’t necessarily graceful creatures, more utilitarian than elegant in their aerial maneuvering, but they are incredibly powerful, and their fire breath is incredibly intense, enough to burn through stone as easily as wood. Red Mottles tend to bear fluted crests along their jaws and down their necks, but not always. Most are patient creatures, slow to lose their tempers even in the face of incredible insult. Sometimes this means that the dragon is a good-natured creature. Sometimes, however, this means that the guilty party is about to discover how terrible and abyssal a Red Mottle’s temper can actually be. Like all Mottles, Reds can be of either sex. Female Red Mottles can lay clutches of up to ten eggs at a time, but they tend to make negligent mothers. Silver Mottle ********* Usually forty meters from nose to tail, Silver Mottles are nearly the size of Golds and Gold Mottles. They glisten in shades of brilliant silver, though sometimes they lighten to nearly platinum or darken to nearly pewter around whatever streaks or markings of other colors have made it onto each Silver Mottle’s hide. They tend to have two horns protruding from a forehead crest that forms the shape of a shield, though this feature from their wild silver ancestors is not always present. What does tend to be present more often than not is the humility of their forbearers and the desire to do good. Most often, Silver Mottles are martyrs, sacrificing themselves so that the greater good can be done, or so that the greatest number of people can be saved by their loss. Deviations from this attitude are rare, but do occur on occasion. Silver Mottles tend to be compassionate, patient, and kind, although sometimes they can be overbearing. Like all Mottles, Silvers come in both male and female, and females can lay up to ten eggs, though they make better guardians than actual parents. Silver Mottles are more likely to breathe frost than fire, but are by no means restricted to this. Bronze, Bronze Mottle ******** Pure-blooded Bronze Dragons are a sight to behold, forty to forty five meters from nose to tail and powerfully muscled, smooth hides gleaming in metallic shades of deep bronze to lighter brass. These males are confident and self-assured, comfortable with leadership and they fully expect to catch any Gold they chase. They’re usually good-natured, but they can also be, because of their confidence, somewhat arrogant and egocentric. They tend to assume that leadership is their birthright and act accordingly, and it genuinely surprises them if someone doesn’t fall in line immediately. Potential for arrogance aside, there are rarely creatures steadier or more loyal. Bronze Mottles are fully the size of pure Bronzes, if not occasionally a smidge larger. Of all Dragons, Bronze Mottles are most comfortable seaside or even swimming, wings powering them through water with the same strength and dexterity that they take to air. Stubborn and occasionally even mercenary, Bronze Mottles tend to rally behind good causes, although they are more likely than their pure-blooded counterparts to seek compensation for provided martial assistance. Bronze Mottles are more likely to breathe lightning than fire, although their mixed blood allows for just about any breath weapon to develop. Bronze Mottles can be of either sex, and females can lay up to eight eggs in any one clutch. Brown, Brown Mottle ******* Pernese Browns have always been a necessary component of any wing and Weyr, as they tend to be balanced creatures. Mellow of temper and capable of enough objectivity to think through situations without their egos interfering with matters. Vaguely smaller than Bronzes, these males stretch nearly thirty five meters from nose to tail and they also tend to be more lithe and graceful than their Bronze brothers. Most have hides of a rich tree bark brown, although shades of darker chocolate and lighter sand or tan are also possible. Brown Mottles are much like their pure-blooded predecessors in that they are similar in size and shape and color, and usually roughly the same in temperament, although Brown Mottles sometimes have a sharper edge to them than Browns have. Brown Mottles are determined creatures. Quiet, but determined. They set goals for themselves and these goals will, eventually, be achieved. Often, Brown Mottles are too level-headed and calm for their wide stubborn streaks to become readily obvious, however, and their general tranquility is still valuable to any Weyr. Female Brown Mottles can lay up to seven eggs in a clutch, and they tend to be almost as nurturing as queens. Blue, Blue Mottle ******* Much smaller than most of his fellow pure-blooded Pernese Dragons, the Blue stretches about twenty five meters from nose to tail and is much slenderer and more lithe than the larger males or even queens. They also lack a great deal of stamina, though they make up for this by being among the fastest in the air. They’re wiry strong, Blues, cable-like muscles bunching springy beneath hides that range from pale sky blue to deeper shades of sapphire and even, rarely, a darker midnight. They have a reputation for flightiness and unreliability, but they’ve the sharpest vision of Dragon-kind and bright minds despite the common perception of them as being somewhat air-headed. No Dragon rivals the Blue for searches or salvage. The Blue Mottle, unlike the pure-blooded Blue, can be very large, stretching more than thirty five meters long. They tend to be much more muscular than pure Blues, although they’re strangely graceful in the air for all of their bulk and hulking. Blue Mottles tend to have sandy yellow-tan belly scales and powerful horns upon their noses, and their attitudes are intensely focused rather than flighty. They have an unfortunate tendency towards vicious sarcasm, but their ferocity is usually verbal rather than physical, as a Blue Mottle generally tends to prefer provoking fear but not actual fights. More prone to breathing lightning than fire, Blue Mottles are most at home in the thermals above scorching desert sands. Female Blue Mottles can lay up to seven eggs in a clutch, which are best watched over by better mothers. Green, Green Mottle ****** The original Pernese Greens were always regarded as flighty but valuable for their speed and agility in the air. Their consumption of the Firestone that allowed them to breathe fire also rendered them sterile. Of all of the original Pernese Dragons, Greens are perhaps the most varied in temperament, being sometimes flirtatious, sometimes incredibly fierce, sometimes volatile, sometimes passionate. They tend to feel everything they feel intensely, no matter what it is. They live their lives intensely, too, whether they take their intensity to flight or mating or battle or friendship. Stretching only to about twenty meters long, they’re the smallest of the original Pernese, but small bodies just contain the biggest emotional responses of Dragon-kind. Greens that forego the chewing of firestone and remain fertile may lay up to twenty two eggs in a clutch, maximum, though they trend toward leaner clutches in the teens. Larger than their counterparts by ten meters of length or so, Green Mottles are far more contained than Greens, reserved instead of passionate, although they don’t lack for passion in their souls. Green Mottles simply tend to leash their feelings. They have speed and grace in common with their Pernese counterparts, however, masters of aerial acrobatics and infinitely skilled in maneuvers that would shred the wings of larger, stronger dragons like Bronzes and Browns. Just as intense as Greens, Green Mottles are lightning storms all bottled up, and their tempers are fierce when they finally do lose control. They prefer forests and jungles to more open spaces, and are most prone to, but not limited to, breathing corrosive chlorine gas rather than fire. Female Green Mottles can lay up to five eggs per clutch, though they rarely know what to do with the eggs once they’ve been laid. Copper Mottle ****** Rarely longer than twenty two meters from their short, blunt muzzles to the twin-tips of their forked tails, Copper Mottles are generally more compact than elegant in design, built more for jumping, burrowing, and principally climbing than they are for flying or gliding, although glide they often can, given that very often their wings grow in the heart-shaped full-body attachment of their forbearers. Just like their wild copper ancestors, Copper Mottles retain brilliant minds for multitasking -- which tends to make them a bit attention deficit -- and a love of labyrinthine places and mazes. Above all, however, Copper Mottles prize pranks and practical jokes. They are generally good-natured creatures, in the theme of their ancestors, and their pranks are usually harmless, though with the hybridization that has gone on and the variation in riders to Impress them, that is not always the case; a majority are simply playful tricksters who seem to think a good prank is the answer to all of life’s ills and then some, though one with a more vengeful rider might turn practical jokes into painful poetic justice, for example. Female Copper Mottles can lay up to five eggs in a clutch, which they are likely to abandon. More likely than not, a Copper Mottle will probably spit acid, but like all Mottles, this is variable. Brass Mottle ****** Usually sized about twenty meters or so nose to tail-tips, Brass Mottles are on the smaller end of the spectrum of Dragons as far as skeletal dimensions go, although if any rank is going to develop plump and roundness, it’s this one. Brass Mottles also tend to have front feet that are webbed and calloused for digging in sand, passed down by ancestors indigenous to the desert climes. The thing that truly sets Brass Mottles apart, however, is the chatter. Be they happy, grumpy, sorrowful, nervous, or any other emotion on the spectrum, expect to hear about it in great detail ad infinitum and you will never get a word in edgewise. Brass Mottles, like their wild brass ancestors, are compulsive chatterboxes, physiologically incapable of shutting up. The wild brasses will resort to trapping people in quicksand to keep a conversation going, but Brass Mottles have riders and mindspeech; nobody is safe. Female Brass Mottles tend to seek out desert caves when they need to clutch the five or so eggs they’re capable of laying at a time, which they’ll just as quickly abandon. Brass Mottles are most likely to breathe a line of fire rather than a cone, but Mottles being Mottles, can breathe any available breath weapon. Black Mottle ****** No more than twenty meters nose to tail, Black Mottles tend to be much smaller in general proportion than the larger Dragons. They are not long-limbed or muscular, not particularly powerful or even graceful. What makes Black Mottles special is their spectacular aptitude for stealth. They move more quietly than something the size and shape of a Dragon ought to be able to, and they are fully capable of stalking prey -- or enemies -- on foot in the kind of silence that allows them to make devastating sneak attacks. Most have the long, forward-sweeping horns of their wild black dragon ancestors, although sometimes they pick up on either the original Pernese shape or the horns, crests, and frills of the other wild dragon varieties Teragaia has to offer. Black Mottles tend to be moody and tempestuous, though not all of them are as vicious as their wild ancestors. They have inherited their forbearers’ love of swamps and bogs, and often gold and other shiny objects, however. They tend to hoard things that sparkle, and the females often seek out swampy terrain when they wish to lay the five or so eggs they can clutch at a time, which they watch jealously. Black Mottles make, perhaps incongruously, the best and most vigilant parents of all Dragon-kind. Black Mottles are more likely to spit acid than fire, although breath weapons are as variable as their heritage. White, White Mottle ****** Technically, the original Pernese Dragons have always had the potential to churn out White Dragons. Runty and often malformed, however, White Dragons rarely, if ever, survived hatching, if they hatched at all. Famously, there was only one: Ruth. Something about Teragaia encourages survival of these previously nearly unheard of Dragons, however, and Whites show up in almost every clutch now. They are the smallest of Dragons, between twelve and fifteen meters long and tending to be much shorter at the shoulder than their larger kin. Given how rare they used to be, no one is entirely sure what their personalities are supposed to be like, which is just as well. White Dragons vary too much to measure them against any particular archetype. The origins of the White Mottles is much easier to explain, as wild white dragons sneaked into the Pernese bloodlines by impersonating Bronzes and chasing Golds, producing the potential for white-fleshed offspring sometimes banded by different colors as other bloodlines assert themselves against the dominant snowy skin and occasional scales. Larger than pure-blooded White Dragons, White Mottles tend to be almost twenty meters long and taller at the shoulders. They often have a head crest like wild whites and are usually fairly burly, as well as surprisingly agile in the air. Usually not as sharp-witted as other Mottles, White Mottles are prone to fits and bursts of ego and temper on occasion. They are more likely to breathe frost than fire, although their breath depends largely on what other influences they have in their bloodlines. Female White Mottles can lay up to five eggs, although they tend to forget they’ve done so shortly thereafter and make negligent parents. |